Police Detain Brooklyn Councilman at West Indian Parade

Jumaane D. Williams of Brooklyn in a January meeting of the City Council. He and Kirsten John Foy, an aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, clashed with the police on Monday over access to a sidewalk.Credit
Michael Appleton for The New York Times

A city councilman from Brooklyn was handcuffed and briefly detained by the police on Monday afternoon during the West Indian Day Parade after an argument with officers over whether he was allowed to use a closed sidewalk, said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, whose aide was also detained in the dispute.

The councilman, Jumaane D. Williams, was not charged with a crime, nor was the aide, Kirsten John Foy, Mr. De Blasio’s community affairs director.

The annual parade, which celebrates the culture of the Caribbean islands with feathered costumes and music and attracts tens of thousands of spectators, is a high-turnout event for the police as they seek to ward off trouble. On Monday, officers responded to at least two shootings at the parade, in which two men were wounded.

In the episode involving Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy, witnesses questioned whether the race of the two men — both are black — played a role.

“A crowd formed and an unknown individual punched a police captain on the scene,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

To separate them from the crowd, Mr. Browne said, Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy, who were handcuffed, “were brought across the street and detained there until their identities were established, and then released.” The police said that the two men had not been arrested.

Mr. Browne said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly had met with Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy “and directed that an investigation into the matter be conducted.”

Video

Councilman Detained by Police

Police were accused by witnesses of racial motivations as Jumaane D. Williams and an aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio were briefly detained. This video contains profanity.

By None None on Publish Date September 5, 2011.
by Submitted by the Office of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
Watch in Times Video »

Mr. de Blasio said he had barely arrived home in Park Slope after marching in the parade when he got a call informing him of the episode.

Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy were trying to walk from Grand Army Plaza to a post-parade event at the Brooklyn Museum, using a sidewalk that the police had blocked. According to Mr. de Blasio, who said he had spoken to Mr. Foy about the episode, they had been given permission to use the sidewalk by a police officer wearing the kind of white shirt usually worn by an officer of high rank.

But as the two men continued walking down the sidewalk, they found themselves surrounded by uniformed police officers stationed farther along.

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“Jumaane was wearing a council member’s pin, they were trying to explain who they were, but the officers weren’t listening,” Mr. de Blasio said in an interview.

Mr. de Blasio said that Mr. Williams began to argue with the officers and that at some point he and Mr. Foy were both thrown to the ground and handcuffed. They were taken to the Union Temple, a synagogue on Eastern Parkway, where Mr. de Blasio said he went after getting the call. There, Mr. de Blasio said, he spoke to a police commander, who released Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy after about 30 minutes without filing charges.

“It’s broad daylight, they get thrown to the ground, they both get arrested,” Mr. de Blasio said. “If that’s what happens to an elected official and a senior appointee, imagine what happens to a general member of the public.”

Mr. Williams did not answer requests for comment. His spokesman, Stefan Ringel, said the councilman would address the case on Tuesday, at a news conference on the steps of City Hall.

A spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Stu Loeser, said that the mayor spoke with Mr. Williams after the episode and that a deputy mayor spoke with Mr. de Blasio. “As the Police Department has indicated, they are investigating this incident and will take all appropriate steps once it is concluded,” Mr. Loeser said.

The confrontation happened within sight of many paradegoers and not far from the entrance to the Brooklyn Museum, where elected officials and dignitaries were gathered. One of them, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, arrived there moments after the confrontation and quickly issued a statement calling the actions of the police “unjustified” and urging the mayor and Mr. Kelly to apologize. The case, Mr. Jeffries said, “is further evidence of the siege mentality the N.Y.P.D. has unleashed against black men in New York City.” He said the officers involved should be “strongly disciplined.”

Mr. Williams won a Council seat in 2009 after working as a community organizer. He represents East Flatbush, Flatbush, Flatlands and parts of Canarsie and Midwood. He has been an outspoken critic of the Police Department’s “stop, question and frisk” policy.

A version of this article appears in print on September 6, 2011, on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Police Detain Brooklyn Councilman at West Indian Parade. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe